Machang Lalung who spent 54 years in prison without trial, died in Assam, India 25th Dec 2007
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) found that Machang, who was only 23 when he was arrested in 1951 from his native village, was never produced in a court though he was declared fit to stand trial after August 9, 1967. He remained an undertrial prisoner in a case under Section 326 of the Indian Penal Code. The NHRC ordered the Assam government to release him immediately.
Later the Supreme Court took a suo motu case and ordered the State government to pay Machang a compensation of Rs.3 lakh and Rs.1,000 every month for life.
The funeral was attended, among others, by Guwahati-based filmmaker Aneisha Sharma whose 27-minute film “Freedom at the edge” on Machang’s confinement bagged an award at the Boston International Film Festival this year.
Machang saw the film when it was screened in Guwahati on June 29 this year. He was seated in the front row next to the then Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup (Metropolitan), H.K. Sarma, who ordered his release on a token personal bond of Re. 1.